Faisalabad's Rs50m master plan scrapped

After court verdict, civic body weighs whether to start afresh or amend cancelled plan

FAISALABAD:

The Faisalabad Development Authority (FDA) appears to be in a state of confusion following the Lahore High Court's decision to strike down the city's Master Plan 2021-2042, leaving the civic body caught between judicial directives and environmental regulations.

Sources said the FDA is now struggling to comply with the court's binding orders to obtain an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD). However, uncertainty looms over whether the authority should prepare an entirely new master plan — which would require significant government funding — or incorporate the EIA into the already nullified plan. Officials are also considering approaching the court for further directions.

Former FDA Town Planner Anwar Moeen-ud-Din said the master plan — initially designed to guide Faisalabad's urban expansion and infrastructure development — was prepared and notified without the mandatory EIA approval.

"The FDA should have penalized the consulting firm for not securing the environmental assessment before drafting the plan," he said, noting that nearly Rs 50 million in public funds had been spent on what he described as a "defective document."

He added that the situation was ironic, as Faisalabad — Pakistan's third-largest city, is currently being governed by the peri-urban structure plan of 2016, which had previously been deemed outdated and insufficient by the FDA itself. "It's absurd that the city is still relying on an obsolete plan, even after the 2021-2042 master plan was developed," he remarked.

The master plan was first challenged in 2021 and was declared null and void by the Lahore High Court in 2024. The FDA later filed an intra-court appeal, which was dismissed by a two-member LHC bench on September 15, 2025.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) had earlier registered a case against then FDA Chairman and MPA Mian Waris Aziz and former Director General Zahid Akram over allegations of manipulating the master plan to benefit developers by converting large tracts of agricultural land into residential zones.

The case remains pending.

Asma Hassan, FDA's Director Town Planning, confirmed that the master plan remains in limbo. "Currently, private housing colony cases are being governed under the 2015 peri-urban structure plan," she said. "We have written to the EPD to provide the EIA report, after which the FDA will decide between three options — referring the matter to the governing body, seeking guidance from the LHC, or consulting with the secretaries of EPD and the Housing Department."

FDA Director General Chaudhry Muhammad Asif added that the authority was "treading a tightrope" while processing housing layout plans in peri-urban areas, as it had avoided acting on zoning divisions proposed in the defunct master plan. "We are awaiting the EIA report from the EPD. Only after that will concrete decisions be made," he said.

For now, Faisalabad's future urban development remains suspended in uncertainty — caught between judicial orders, environmental requirements, and bureaucratic indecision.